The Histological Analysis of Implantable Medical Devices

Resin/Plastic Sectioning vs Cutting and Grinding

Resin/plastic histology is typically used to examine hard tissue such as bone and implanted medical device interaction with surrounding tissues. There are two basic methodologies: grinding, also called cutting and grinding, and sectioning, which is done on a rotary microtome. In either method, samples are first dehydrated then infiltrated with a plastic monomer which is subsequently polymerized into a plastic tissue block. Each method offers its own unique advantages and disadvantages. Resin/plastic histology is more labour intensive than paraffin histology and processing is usually conducted manually due to required lengthy resin infiltration times.